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Tuesday, April 7, 2015

So
last Spring, almost a year ago now, I was in a mood to tackle a big
project and to do it right. I don't know why that came over me--it's
unusual! I am more of a "make it in a weekend" gal. So I decided it
was time to make a trench. Burda 11-2012-118 is
*almost* the perfect classic: it has the separate collar stand, double
breast, and gun/rain flaps--but the latter are weird and asymmetrical.
A totally unnecessary variant! However, it was relatively easy to turn
them into the classic look, and the pattern needed only my usual fit
alterations to be perfect.

Fabric Mart had some
fabulous red water resistant (more on that later) nylon allegedly from
Marc Jacobs, I splurged on fabulous hardware from Pacific Trimming, and
patiently got started.

Well, back up. After tracing
out and altered the pattern I cut it out in a coated linen I got from
Fabric Mart a while back. Luckily, I thought to actually test the
fabric for water fastness before starting to sew. Not only did the waxy
coating on the linen offer no water resistance whatsoever, it seemed to
actively soak up water *worse* than your average fabric. So that's in
pieces in my sewing room still.

So with the red fabric,
I sewed some scraps together and tested various configurations. I
found that by pressing the seam allowance to one side and topstitching,
the seams were surprisingly waterfast and I decided not to use
waterproof tape on them.

I got the shell of the outer
fabric most of the way constructed using my most meticulous
craftsmanship...and then my partner and I bought a house. So that went
into a box for months and months while we moved etc. Then in October we
planned our trip to Italy--two weeks in advance (we had a rough Fall
with deaths in each of our families). And since it was October, it was
predicted to rain the whole time we were there. Eep! I needed the
trench coat, and I needed it now! So much for taking my time on this
project and doing everything right.

Taken with Flash to Show Reflective Piping

There
were a few special details that were important to me. I wanted to add
some reflective piping, to give me more visibility when biking in the
rain. I wanted the front storm flap to be functional. I wanted the
traditional epaulets and sleeve belts, as well as tie-but-belt-buckle belt (I didn't put any eyelets in the belt). I wanted a chain for hanging it on a hook.
And I wanted a functional but removable hood.

And I wanted all this in
two weeks. Hence, why there are no in-progress photos and no construction
information. I figured I'd rather post (after months of silence) than
spend another couple months trying to recreate the construction process.

I
kept a Burberry trench open on my computer at all times and used the
zoom function on every possible detail. In the end, I think I only got
one thing wrong. I looked at the pocket flap over and over and it
really looked like it was attached behind the pocket and buttoned in
front of it. I'm still not sure which way the Burberry goes, but I knew
at the time it was probably a mistake and it was. As I discovered
while walking home from work in a snowstorm while wearing my trench, the
precipitation just blows right into the pocket. Alas. I will add a
second flap on the front of the pocket so the flaps can button either
way, depending on wind direction.

I think my most proud detail on this doesn't even really show to the casual observer--the lined vent, my first one ever. I watched this video
over and over and it really worked! It made me extremely nervous to
cut away my lining fabric for the underlap side. I hate doing things
that can't be undone. But I had faith and went forth and the vent is
beautiful.

My
stupid mistake was that I haven't made a double-breasted coat in so
long that I totally forgot that one row of buttons is functional and the
other is supposed to be fake. I made them all functional. So there
are a million buttons to button if I want to wear this buttoned. Ah
well. In a way it looks better, because if I just wrap the coat closed
and hold it in place with the belt rather than buttoning it, which I do
more than actually buttoning it, then you still get the effect of the
double row of buttons.

This
fabric doesn't do "crisp." Cidell kindly took the photos and asked if I
wanted to steam it first. Ha! In order to give the sleeves and hem
*some* body, I sewed multiple rows of parallel stitching, which worked
out pretty well.

The only
poorly done details on what was supposed to be a meticulous project are
some of the buttonholes (appalling) and the hood doesn't really button
under the chin. The hood was the last step and I was sewing it deep
into the night before we left the next day for Italy. I found a Burda
pattern with a hood, and shrunk it by about 30%(!) for my tiny
child-sized head in a two muslin process. It amazingly looks pretty
good, especially with the sporty mesh lining, but the ends are too thick to work the buttons into the
buttonholes without extreme effort. Luckily, the drawstring (with red elastic cord
purchased from Pacific Trimming for a luxe touch, rather than the more
readily available generic black) and gold cord stopper keep it in place.

It's
lined with a silk print I got on eBay for a great price. The print has
pinks rather than red in it, but I think it works. I considered adding
an interlining layer, but decided I wanted the coat more for
Spring/Fall and so the nylon + silk would be warm enough. In fact, it
is the perfect weight. As mentioned, I was able to wear it when it was
snowing with heavier underclothes (but it is not very cold in DC when it
snows for the most part--just below freezing) and have already had
plenty of use out of this Spring.

I
was proud to wear this coat in Italy, though I flew too close to the
sun and got soaked one day. Our last morning in Parma we ran out to get
cheeses and bread and snacks for a picnic on the train to Bergamo. It
was POURING. I just wore the coat, no umbrella. Well, if you have this
fabric, let me warn you. It is water resistant. There is a big
difference between water RESISTANT and waterPROOF, as it turns out, and I
got absolutely soaked. In a light rain it's great. In a heavy rain,
you have about 10 minutes of comfort and the rest of the day of drowned
rat. It's no substitute for an umbrella! I had a moment of rage that I
had put so much work into something that was supposed to last for at
least a decade and it didn't function as intended. But now I'm over it.
And really enjoying wearing this in our light Spring rains!

Friday, January 16, 2015

New Look 6648 has been a perennial favorite at PR, but for some reason very few people have made this butterfly wing view, perhaps because it is an insane fabric hog.

This was one of my quickie makes before my trip to Italy in October. We were going to have cool but not cold and probably wet weather, so I was looking for transitional tops. This is probably too much fabric to wear in the heat of summer, but for early fall it was perfect. I also wanted tops that could go with leggings. Though this isn't long (I seriously cannot find any long tops that will work for my wide-hipped, belly-pooched self), the volume up top is a nice contrast to a fitted bottom.

The top is very simple and only required a little bit of alteration. As usual, I shortened the crossover for a small bust adjustment.

This is still quite drapey and I ended up tacking the two sides together at center front. This is always a defeat for me--sewing should mean never having to tack a wrap style into place! But at least I didn't have to resort to the safety pin of shame.

The lower band is drafted as a straight rectangle. I altered it to have a tiny bit of waist shaping--you can see the bulge about 2/3 of the way down. The bulge is the bottom of the band; only the top layer is gathered so the bulge is not in the center. The top and bottom edges are the waist and are a little bit smaller than the bulge fold/hip.

The instructions have you gather the side edges of the band, then stitch. I find it harder to do that than to sew the seam, then put in the gathering stitches on either side of it.

Once I pulled on the threads to gather the upper ruched band to the fit the under non-ruched band, I used my walking foot to zigzag the gathers in place.

The small amount of waist shaping I did at the cutting/sewing stage on the band was definitely not enough to deal with my swayback. Before attaching the band to the bodice I took a large dart at the upper edge of the band at center back. Next time I will just cut it with a CB seam pieces and integrate the dart into the seam.

I gathered the outer layer of the band before stitching the dart, so there is ruching in the dart. It made for a very thick dart, which I cut open and trimmed before attaching the bodice to reduce the bulk. Taking out this width in the band required slightly gathering the bodice before attaching it to the band, but this is in line with the style.

I finished the neckline by serging clear elastic to the inside at the raw edge, then turning under and twin needling.

I wore this for our beautiful day of psuedo-hiking in Bergamo, Italy (we were mostly on a road, so it wasn't much like hiking). Admittedly, it looks a little weird with my athletic skants here.

However, it does look good with skinny jeans, which was the whole point!

The lighting in my new photo spot in the house is still quite challenging, but I'm sort of getting there.

With this closeup you can notice that the crossover is tacked if you think about it, but I don't think it's *too* obvious.

All in all, this fabric hog is worth the fabric in my opinion. It's a fun look that hides a multitude of pasta!